Fatal auto accidents down across the state



Monday, August 21, 2006 The state patrol is rethinking traffic management. COLUMBUS (AP) — Fatal accidents in Ohio have declined in 2006 as state troopers push for more truck inspections and converge on highways at peak travel times to better manage traffic. Col. Paul McClellan, the State Highway Patrol's superintendent, has given local posts more discretion and is holding them accountable if their efforts don't produce results. "Essentially, we reversed the top-down approach and made it a bottom-up approach," said Maj. John Born, commander of strategic services. In Delaware, north of Columbus, troopers set up and relocate drunken-driver checkpoints more quickly, and in Mount Gilead, which oversees rural Knox and Morrow counties, troopers perform traffic-safety spots for local radio stations. As of Aug. 6, 691 people had died on state roads. During the same period last year, 790 had died. "We have recommended that other states in our region take a look at what Ohio is doing," said George Ferris, an Illinois-based program manager for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Figures The agency looks at deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled as an equalizer among states. In 2004, the national average was 1.44 deaths in that distance. In Ohio during the same year, the rate was 1.15 deaths, Ferris said. McClellan has set a goal of fewer than 1,155 people traffic fatalities on Ohio roads in 2006. For years, the annual death toll was closer to 1,400. Good traffic management involves pinpointing when and where crashes occur, going there at those times and going after the behaviors that historically have led to the wrecks, Ferris said. "It sounds like a no-brainer, but you know what? It doesn't always happen," he said. "What Ohio is doing, they're keeping their eye on the ball and trying to drive those numbers down." Added responsibility Post commanders around the state say they have taken the added responsibility to heart. "If that's their stretch of road that they're assigned, they're taking it very personally when someone's killed on it," Born said. "That's where you motivate people. It becomes a very personal challenge to make sure it doesn't happen again."

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